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Sleeping

Submitted by Thiruvelan on 22 Jun 2010 | Last updated 11 July 2012

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Sleep is a natural state of rest for both the mind and the body, usually close the eyes and consciousness are partially or completely lost. Furthermore, during sleep, there is a decrease in bodily movement and relatively more responsive to internal stimuli than external stimuli.

How important is your sleep?

Sleeping may consider as a big waste of time. Nevertheless, sleep appears to be necessary, there is still an ever-lasting debate about why we sleep. How much sleep you need?

No one knows and understands clearly, why we sleep, but sleep has an impotent restorative function.

Benefits of Sleep in Restorative Process

This theory of sleep suggests that sleep help the body recover from all the work it did. Experiments have shown that the more physical activity an animal does, the more NREM an animal will have. In addition, if people are deprived of NREM may experience physical tiredness. If people are, deprive of REM sleep, and then they can get anxious and irritable. REM sleep has also been considering as important for memory and learning.

Importance of deep Sleep and its benefits

Good night sleep is essential needed for the normal, healthy functioning of the human body as well as mental health, including the immune system. Sleep helps to improve the immune system that is one’s ability to fight against diseases.

Body rests and restores its energy levels during sleep

Sleep is an active state that supports and improves both the physical and mental well-being.

Sleep is often helping to cope with stress, recover from illness.

Necessity of sleep is well understandable from animal studies, which have shown that sleep is the must for the survival. The normal life span of rats is two to three years. However, rats deprived of sleep live for only about three weeks.

Understanding Sleep

During sleep, the brain undergoes a characteristic cycle of brain wave activities that includes intervals of dreaming. Once sleep was thinking as a passive state, however, now it is understood as a dynamic process and the brains are active during sleep. Sleep is considered as a complicated physiological phenomenon that scientists still not able to understand fully.

Brains state of activity during sleep and wakefulness result from different activating and inhibiting forces that was causing within the brain. Neurotransmitters are chemicals involved in nerve signaling, which controls whether one is asleep or awake by acting like the neurons (nerve cells) located in different parts of the brain. Neurons located in the brainstem induce sleep by inhibiting other parts of the brain that keeps one awake.

Sleep needs to look after by the

Relaxation of the muscles,

Absence of voluntary activity for any rational objects or purpose

Pulse is slower,

Respiratory movements are fewer in number but deeper,

Less blood in the cerebral vessels

Sleep Disorder Facts

Sleep health essentially needs for a person’s physical and mental health and well-being, according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). However, millions of people do not get enough sleep or lack of sleep. A survey conducted by the NSF on 1999-2004, bring to the light that more than 40 million Americans has over 70 different sleep disorders and 60 % adults reportedly have sleep problems a few nights a week; most of these problems go undiagnosed and untreated. Additionally, there are more than 40 % of the adults experiencing severe daytime sleepiness that interferes with daily activities at least a few days every month and 20 % reporting problem of sleepiness a few days every week. Furthermore, 69 % of children are experiencing sleep problems a few nights or more during a week.